


Because My Foe of Course He Was (the Traitor's Gambit)

by handschuhmaus



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Anti-War Themes, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-01-15 07:47:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18494527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/handschuhmaus/pseuds/handschuhmaus
Summary: "Yes; quaint and curious war is!You shoot a fellow downYou'd treat if met where any bar is,Or help to half-a-crown."-"The Man He Killed", Thomas Hardy"...And at each end of the rifle, we're the same."-"Christmas in the Trenches", John McCutcheon...what if the Jedi and Sith did not meet in battle on Tatooine in The Phantom Menace, but had met previously, under pleasanter circumstances?





	Because My Foe of Course He Was (the Traitor's Gambit)

**Author's Note:**

> what a surprise, it's ...Yet Another Incomplete AU...

"Wait. It's you. Of course it's you--" the hooded assailant then hissed in surprise. Obi-Wan, recently deprived of his lightsaber, stared back and forth, at the red saber staff suddenly stilled and his Master's saber also stopped mid-strike; all three of them breathing hard.

"It's me. What are you doing here?" Qui-Gon Jinn frowned intently. 

"I had no idea the Jedi here would be you."

Obi-Wan bluntly interjected his questions "Who is this man? Why is he attacking us?"

"He is a Sith," Qui-Gon reported, gravely and without the expected vitriol. 

"Get in the ship!" the little boy yelled from the ramp.

"Ah. You are taking him." 

Qui-Gon rolled his eyes, a habit which had previously earned him much scorn from the Jedi Council. "He has a ridiculously high midichlorean count and here he's a slave. What else do you expect me to do?" 

Before Obi-Wan could get in any of his questions about why Qui-Gon would reveal such information to a known Sith, the man shrugged off his hood to reveal himself as a much tattooed Zabrak. "Yes. There is that."

"It's inhumane," the Jedi Knight said offhandedly, but his face creased up as if in pain.

"Slavery typically is." he deadpanned.

"If you're who I think you are, you haven't had it much better."

"Well, that depends on your perspective." the Zabrak turned to Obi-Wan, "Darth Maul." Studying his face a little further, Obi-Wan decided he, apparently called Darth Maul, was perhaps a few years older, if that, than the Jedi Padawan.

"What do you mean, 'that depends on your perspective'?!" And now Qui-Gon sounded irritated but the sort of irritated he often was with Master Windu, not the sort of thing Obi-Wan had learned to expect regarding outsiders.

"Oh, you had it nice enough with Master Dooku, I'm sure," Maul said darkly.

"And _what_ is that supposed to mean? You know Master Dooku?" Qui-Gon asked, continuing in his irritation.

"I've met him." Maul shrugged and shut off the blades of his saberstaff. "He's better than most Jedi, I'd say."

"You don't think I'll treat Anakin right?" but now Qui-Gon sounded as if he were asking an academic question.

Again Maul shrugged. "Misery flowers in a thousand poisonous versions across the galaxy." He let this stand in the air for a moment before continuing "Usually you remove children from the cradle, which civilized beings might object to if they weren't so used to it, I suppose. He isn't a malleable baby. Not that they're trouble-free."

Obi-Wan frowned in contempt. "Who do you think you are to critique the Jedi Order?"

"Someone who has heard a longtime Jedi's complaints."

"Ah. Well. I suppose you could come with us," Qui-Gon said uneasily. "We're not exactly on an extendable time table."

"I have my own transport. Where are you headed, Coruscant?"

Neither Qui-Gon nor Obi-Wan replied, but the look on Maul's face suggested that their lack of response told him all he needed to know, confirming his suspicions.


End file.
